


Message from the Other Side

by Okami_no_fude



Series: Linked Universe oneshots [7]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Genre: Bittersweet, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Mild Hurt/Comfort, Spirit Medium, Spoilers for Link's Awakening, Talking to Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 00:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20349466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami_no_fude/pseuds/Okami_no_fude
Summary: Legend finds something of interest at the end of an alley.He did not expect his long-time guilt for what he had done in one of his 'adventures' to be relieved.





	Message from the Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> So Link's Awakening on the Switch is coming out in a month, and I wanted to refresh my brain from writing the mystery fic, so I did a livewrite an LA related fic on the discord server, and I will now plop it here!
> 
> [Linked Universe](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/) belongs to @jojo56830 on Tumblr.  
Legend of Zelda and related content belongs to Nintendo.

Legend let out a sigh as he wandered around the bustling village. The group of heroes had arrived at the village earlier that day, surprised at how lively it was. From what they gathered, they were in the middle of a festival, where the people greeted their ancestors and departed loved ones and celebrated the cherished memories that they shared. There were a lot of food, activities, and shows for all of the people of different ages to have fun. The villagers told them this was always one of the biggest festivals they had and many people from outside would come visit to join the fun, and they proceeded to invite the tired heroes to join.

All of the heroes agreed as it was a pleasant change of pace for them who always had to be wary of monsters attacking them 24/7.

As soon as they got the rooms for the night, everyone went their separate ways, agreeing to meet up before sundown. Wind was very excited about the prospect of a festival and had pretty much dragged Warriors (who had a fond look on his face) with him to enjoy the festive, Sky tagging along equally excited as the youngest hero. 

Four had a bright smile on his face as he went along with Hyrule at a more leisurely pace, looking into each booth to see what they offered.

Wild seemed somewhat apprehensive at the crowds, so Twilight who had noticed this tagged along with Wild as to help him be more comfortable with the crowds. Time had wandered away from everyone else, opting to take in the view of the festive, a nostalgic look in his eye and a small smile on his face. 

  
  


While Legend would have loved to join the festivities with the others, hearing what the festival was for made him pause a bit

Greeting dearly departed people.

A feeling he had been trying to shake off for a long time slowly welled up in his chest and squeezed at his heart.

As an adventurer and a hero, he had gone to many different places and met so many unique people, but meeting new people and making friends with them also meant that they would unavoidably say their farewells in the end.

Legend hated saying farewell, especially if it was for eternity.

  
  


And doubly so if he was the one who caused it.

Legend let out another sigh as he wandered about. 

That one ‘adventure’ he experienced when he got shipwrecked gave him both fond and bitter memories. 

When he had been rescued by a passing ship and he had got his bearings, Legend found out that he had kept all of the items he got during his scramble around on Koholint island, which gave evidence that what he had experienced was the real thing.

Even the pictures he had taken with various other inhabitants on the island were still there.

However, there were other instances in which suggested that it was all just a dream after all.

When Ravio had spied the pictures, he had asked Legend why all the pictures seem to have an empty space where it seemed like there should be another person, but there was not.

Legend was shocked when he learned that he was the only one who could see all of the other inhabitants on the pictures.

Including the red-haired girl wearing a hibiscus hair accessory, and who had a love for seagulls.

The seasoned hero shook his head as his thoughts started to spiral towards a rabbit hole he tried so hard to bury in the past but was never able to.

When he had found out that waking the wind fish meant that Koholint Island would cease to exist because it was all a dreamscape that the Wind Fish who was trapped in sleep made, he was horrified. Even when the Windfish and the owl had told him that it was all a dream, he could still not shake the guilt that he had essentially erased all of the island inhabitant's existence. 

Dream or not, everything he had felt and experienced felt too real for him to write it off as a dream.

Legend started walking away from the bustling excitement, needing to clear his head from those thoughts. He slipped into a small alleyway where there was less traffic around.

Something caught his eye.

Near at the end of the alley, he saw a small tent that was in the deepest shade of blue he had ever seen, the flaps obscuring what was inside. in front of the tent, there was a couple who were bowing deeply to a figure in an indigo-colored cloak. He could see a hint of blond sticking out to the side, indicating that this figure was blond.

He did not know why he felt intrigued at that time, but all he knew that he was beginning to approach the figure.

"...thank you so much, this eases our worries," Legend heard as he caught the tail end of the conversation the three were having.

"I am glad to be of service. May your ancestors watch over you and provide protection and guidance," the cloaked figure stated, a light, feminine voice rang out. "Oh? It seems that I already have another customer to see."

Legend jerked in surprise. He thought his approach was quiet enough, and it was from this figure's blind spot. How?

His silence must have made his surprise obvious, as the female (he figured) gave a small chuckle.

"Oh sorry dear traveler, I did not mean to startle you!"

Legend shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, it's all right. But," he paused, looking at the person straight to where their face would be located underneath the hood. "May I ask why you thought I was a customer?"

Her laughter sounded like a tinkling of small wind chimes. "Fufufu, no one stumbles into my place unless someone needs it dear, they are usually guided by something or someone."

Something or someone? What did that mean?

Legend was about to open his mouth to ask before the woman continued.

"and it seems that this someone has a desperate need to tell you something."

Legend was surprised when the woman said that. 

"What? Someone needs to tell me something? Who?"

He was guessing this woman was one of those people who could see spirits or something along those lines. He had never met anyone who could do any of that except for Princess Zelda, but her main ability was Clairvoyance.

He was a bit skeptic of this woman until he heard the description that came out of her mouth.

"A red, wavy, long-haired girl in a blue dress, wearing a hibiscus flower on her hair?"

Legend could not close his mouth as he stared in pure surprise. He had never described Marin to anyone before, how did this person know? Was she one of those legitimate spirit mediums?

He was brought out of his state of shock as the woman had gestured toward her royal blue tent. "I do want to help you guys out, but I cannot do it outside here, as it would attract too many spirits that would have nothing to do with the message I would like to help this girl deliver to you."

Numbly, Legend complied to the request and followed the cloaked woman inside the tent.

The interior decoration of the tent was something a lot more simple than he thought.

There was a rug on the middle of the floor with a symbol of a triangle inside a circle weaved in, various candle stands surrounding the rug in a circle. He also spied some paper strips with a foreign language written on them. 

"Please sit, young sir. Have you ever witness someone with psychic powers doing their work before?"

He shook his head, still at a lost for words when this person had described how Marin looked like. 

"Well, my methods are quite unique, and also dangerous for me as well. However, this is one of the best ways to make both the client and the spirit satisfied. Please do not be surprised and jump out of this circle when I sound different. Before I start, may I have both you and the spirit's consent to have this meeting happen?"

Legend was confused, but he complied. "Yes, you may."

A barely audible "please" was able to be heard from beside him.

"Then we shall begin. Please do not move out of the circle until this is over."

It was a bit awkward for Legend to just sit on the rug idly as he observed the woman light up the candles surrounding the rug one by one, chanting inaudibly as she went around.

Finishing her round, the cloaked woman had kneeled on the opposite end of the rug, right in front of one edge of the triangle symbol, holding what seemed to be a string of beads. 

Legend watched with curiosity as the spirit medium brought one hand that was holding the beads closer to her hidden face, while her other hand slowly stretched out in front of her, hovering above the middle of the symbol.

She was chanting slowly. The sweet smell of incense burning slowly filled the room.

A minute passed, then 2.

She was still chanting.

Legend started to doubt this person was truly a spirit medium when the figure in front of him suddenly jerked as if something had slammed into her. She gasping for breath.

"L-Link?" 

Legend was startled. While he could pick up the traces of the voice of the person he was talking to a bit earlier, it seemed that it was subdued, another voice overlapping hers.

A nostalgic, beautiful voice that he thought he would never hear again.

The voice he had heard when he was figuring out where he was and met in the center of the town on that island.

"Wh- Ma-Marin?!"

The spirit medium had nodded her head.

"Yes Link, it is me. This young lady was kind enough to allow me to borrow and possess her body for a brief period of time," she spoke. "If you need evidence, I was the one who had found you on the beach and took you back to my house. You met me at the center of the town where the weather vane was. I needed to speak to you, but I never had enough power to manifest myself as a ghost so I could never talk to you in the past."

Legend was completely speechless. He could not believe that Marin's spirit was talking to him, but the fact that the spirit medium was currently talking with Marin's voice, and told him what no one knew about except himself was proof that this was happening. 

This was proof that Marin and Koholint Island once existed.

Legend flinched when he made that realization. That also meant that he truly had erased-

A cool hand to his face startled him out of that train of thought.

"Link, this is what I wanted to tell you about. Your guilt. This is misplaced."

"What?" He was confused. How could it be misplaced? He was the one who woke the Wind Fish, which caused the whole island and its inhabitants to disappear!

Marin shook her head. "While you may have woken the Wind Fish, it does not mean that you had killed us. We are actually grateful Link, that you woke the Wind Fish."

Legend tilted his head. "Why are you grateful? I inadvertently killed everyone on the island!"

"Would you change your mind if I told you we were already dead in the first place?" Marin said softly.

_ What. _

His mind grinded to a halt when Marin uttered those words. Already dead? But he remembered vividly how every inhabitant on the Island was warm and alive!

"What do you mean by that Marin?!"

She let out a sigh.

"While the island itself was created by the thoughts of the Wind Fish, its inhabitants were not. They were the souls of once-alive beings, but who had been lost at sea. The Nightmare, the entity that had kept the Windfish under its' slumber, was the one who had trapped us in there, not allowing us to move on. While the island may have seemed to be a paradise, it truly was not. Not being able to leave and move on was painful for all of us, but we had been resigned to stay there forever.

Until you came that is."

The hero was shocked. "S-so, by defeating the Nightmare and waking the Wind Fish, I had freed you guys from its clutches?"

"Yes, Link. You gave us the freedom to pass on, and we are thankful for that. We were at first surprised that the Island was not holding us in anymore, but when we realized that what had happened, many had cried tears of joy. Many had moved on, but I elected to stay to watch over you."

She scooted closer to him, bringing her hands to cover over his limp ones. 

"As I was watching you, I realized that you were being crushed by the misplaced guilt when you had assumed you had erased our existence, I never felt so frustrated when I could not speak to you and comfort you. I just wanted to help, but my spiritual power has never been strong. The fact I can speak to you now is a blessing, so I can deliver my message from all of the other people's souls who had been trapped by Nightmare: Thank you so much for freeing us all, Hero of Legend. May you live a good life."

Legend was utterly speechless as Marin said those words. So he truly had not killed them, and no one resents him for waking the Wind Fish? 

He squeezed back at the hand that was holding his. "So you guys really don't hate me? You don't resent me of what I did?"

She squeezed back. "We don't, so please, don't feel guilty. Please cease your self-deprecating thoughts."

His vision blurred. Tears began to well up.

He felt something heavy lift off his chest as he fought his tears from escaping his eyes.

"Th-thank you, M-Marin," he choked out. "Thank you."

\---

It took a while for Legend to recover from his silent sobs, but by the time he did, the time Marin could possess the body was almost up. He really did not want for Marin to leave, but he could not be selfish like that.

"Don't worry Link. You may not see me, but I will always be watching over you, okay? So chin up!"

He nodded. "Thank you, Marin."

"Farewell, for now, Link..." 

Legend could visibly see the change of the soul being in control of the medium's body, as the woman suddenly gasped again, breathing hard as she swayed over. 

Legend caught the spirit medium before she could hit her head.

"A-are you alright ma'am?"

It took her a while to catch her breath, but she was able to answer with a tired yes. 

"Was...was the girl able to tell you her message? " the medium panted.

Legend nodded slowly as he helped her get her bearings. "Yes, she was. Thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to communicate with each other."

"As long as both of you are happy, I am glad I could help," the medium said, waving off any of his concerns. "And no, I do not need any payments from a hero chosen by the goddesses," she said, cutting him off of saying anything. "Now, don't you have somewhere to go? Don't you have to meet your companions soon? I can sense that it is almost sundown."

Crap.

"Yeah I need to go or the others would start worrying. Thank you so much, for everything." Legend gave a quick bow before exiting the tent, but not before dropping a purple Rupee at the entrance.

The woman gave a small laugh as she walked over to pick up the rupee. "I should have expected the Hero of Legend to leave a payment anyway. I guess any of us would do that."

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted Legend to feel less guilty of what he had done in LA, so I thought "what if Koholint Island was somewhat like Davy Jones' Locker, and the people who were lost at sea could not move on due to Nightmare trapping them. Waking the Wind Fish also means that he released those spirits!" and this idea came out.


End file.
